Anastylosis

From Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program

Artist: Mary Griep
June 15 - August 12, 2007
MAEP Galleries

Mary Griep, Palace of the Governors, 2007

For nearly seven years, Griep has drawn the physical and spiritual spaces of Chartres Cathedral (France), Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Thatbyinnyu (Myanmar), and The Palace of Governors (Mexico). Her highly detailed, scale recreations capture Griep’s personal experience with the spaces. She has mentally dismantled and reconstructed each building on paper in her effort to gain a greater understanding of these spaces and how they continue to speak to us. Multi-layered and rich with her own reconstructions, the drawings themselves are mounted on boards that contain further drawings of niches and glimpses of the past. Her generous use of collage incorporates photographs and photocopies from her research and study. Conversely, the artist tears off parts of the paper to show where the buildings have been plundered. Bits and pieces from previous works end up in newer drawings, opening pathways of communication between places separated by geography and religion. Griep’s anastylosis restores the spiritual, emotional, and historical lives of these structures.